Bangladesh has launched a project to train workers and mid-level managers in different sectors over the next five years. This is necessary to achieve its development goals. More than 43,800 workers and mid-level officers will be trained in phases. The length of the training courses will vary from a month to six months and the educational qualification for the trainees has been fixed between primary school certificates and graduation levels.

Workers will receive training on 15 different subjects, including enhancing managerial capacity, supervision, technology, sewing operations and computer literacy. The first phase of the project has already been completed, under which 2,096 garment workers were given training.

Training institutions will have to manage jobs for 70 per cent of the trainees after completion of the certificate courses. If the training partners fail to do so, their performance would be considered poor. In the absence of skilled trainers in Bangladesh, foreigners take away billions from the country by way of salaries and allowances.

Productivity improvement for garment workers is very important for achieving the country’s export target of 50 billion dollars by 2021. Every year some two million people enter the job market in Bangladesh but most of them do not have the necessary skills.